In the story, Lina Nilsson, who has a
Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, suggests that
there's one "obvious" — if overlooked — way to get more women
interested in this field.

Women are more likely to pursue careers in
engineering when the work makes a social impact, says
Nilsson, innovation director at the Blum Center for Developing
Economies at the University of California,
Berkeley.

In the US, while at least
80% of bachelor's degrees in engineering are awarded to men,
programs that encourage students to do societally meaningful work
typically enroll equal numbers of men and women (and sometimes
more women than men).

When I reached out to Nilsson via email, she
told me the response to the article struck more of a nerve than
she anticipated.

Perhaps that's because the strategy she proposes
is something that will ultimately benefit everyone. In the
article, Nilsson mentions that none of the programs she cites
were designed to attract female engineers — just
engineers interested in social change.

Connecting the social impact
that engineering jobs can have may even be more effective (and
less expensive) than efforts to recruit and mentor women.

"It may be about reframing the goals of
engineering research and curriculums to be more relevant to
societal needs," writes Nilsson. "It is
not just about gender equity — it is about doing better
engineering for us all."

Nilsson also suspects that pairing engineering
research with social change is a way to increase diversity more
broadly. In the U.C. Berkeley program, she's seen unusually high
interest from underrepresented minorities.

At a time when many companies are thinking hard
about how to increase the diversity of their workforce, Nilsson's
is an elegant potential solution. Making a positive impact on the
world is something that everyone — no matter their background —
can get behind.